Many users of cellular radios depend on uninterrupted operability of their cellular radio. For some users, such as public emergency personnel, an operational cellular radio is absolutely essential. Occasionally, a cellular radio becomes defective during use in the field which renders the cellular radio inoperable. Manufactures and dealers of cellular radios have established field service centers to repair defective cellular radios. Repairing a defective radio may take up to six weeks depending on the problem, replacement parts available, backlog of defective radios in the field service center, location of the field service center or other factors.
To accommodate the user, tile field service center transfers the memory contents from the defective radio necessarily to a new radio of the same model type as the defective radio. The new radio is given to the user permanently for continued access to the radio system. The information transfer process takes only a few minutes so the user encounters minimal inconvenience. Continued user access to the radio system is also an important advantage for field service centers which also provide radio system service. An operable radio in the user's possession results in the opportunity for increased revenues for the radio system service provider.
The new radio gives the user all the capabilities of their own radio. To transfer the memory contents the field service center temporarily intercouples the defective radio and the new radio to transfer the ESN (Electronic Security Number), NAM (Number Assignment Module), repertory directory and feature set from the user's defective radio to the new radio. Generally, transferring such information is accomplished via a memory device coupled to the data bus of a microprocessor within each radio. Once the information has been transferred from the defective radio to the new radio, the new radio can operate in the radio system independently of the defective radio. Additionally, the defective radio can no longer operate in the radio system since the ESN has been erased from its memory. Secure transfer of radio specific data has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,377 on behalf of Krolopp et al. on Jul. 31, 1987.
Information transfer between defective and new radios can only occur between radios having identical model types. Identical model radios have the same software and hardware configuration. Thus, when the user brings the defective radio to a field service center, the user can get a new radio only if an identical model radio is available to accept the information. This poses a serious problem for both the field service personnel as well as the user since there are numerous radio models in use in the field. To overcome the problem and promptly provide the user with a new radio, the field service centers need to stock every model radio from the past to the present and will need to continue doing so into the future. The cost and logistics of this field service plan is simply not reliable or realistic. If the field service center does not have the same model radio in stock corresponding to the defective radio model, the field service center cannot transfer the information between the radios. The result is lost radio operability in the radio system for the user and lost revenues for the radio system service provider while the defective radio is being repaired. For both the user and service provider this situation is very undesirable.
Thus, there is a need to overcome this increasingly painful situation by developing the equipment and process to give the user immediate access to the radio system regardless of the model type of the defective radio.
A radio system has many radios and one fixed site. The radio system comprises a universal radio and a first radio. The first radio includes an information set stored in its memory enabling communication with the fixed site. The universal radio and the first radio are intercoupled establishing communication therebetween so that the information set in the memory of the first radio may be transferred to the memory of the universal radio. The universal radio then operates in the radio system independent of the first radio.